AN: Alas, Naruto is still not for sale, so I cannot buy it... Yay for people who listened to my cry for reviews! Rewards are deserved here! tosses liberal amounts of nargles to reviewers And an extra handful to FFz for the 'nargles' acronym! showers Ffz with nargles Reviews are why I write this story, and if they're fun like Ffz's, it really makes my day! More people should write fun reviews like that, not necessarily acronyms, but you get the idea. Anyway, Enjoy this chapter!
-demonicnargles
"Speech"
thought / talking in mind
"Demon speech"
Demon thought / talking in mind
Summon speech
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Naruto/Kyuubi followed the sannin through the forest, leaping from branch to branch. Although he wondered where the legendary frog-ninja might be taking him, he kept silent, since pestering a strong ninja was never a good idea.
Suddenly they came to the edge of the forest, and looked out over... a bathhouse. The buildings appeared to have been built around a large natural hot springs. Naruto/Kyuubi could see people swimming in the springs, since from about 20 yards away and as many yards high, they fence was pointless.
The white-haired ninja dropped down to the ground and walked over to a small area of hot water that was not fenced in. The half-demon followed.
Jiraiya turned to face his young protege. "Today, you will practice walking on water using chakra. This will improve your chakra control, and perhaps your stamina. You have, I assume, practiced climbing trees using chakra?"
The unmasked boy nodded once, his blonde hair waving a bit with the motion.
"Good. This is similar, except that the water is not as constant a surface as trees are. You will have to constantly adjust the amount of chakra you use in order stay above the surface. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some research to do."
Naruto/Kyuubi watched the sannin go over to a small hole in the fence of the women's side of the bathhouse, take out a notebook, and begin writing while he giggled in a manner reminiscent of the way Kakashi did when reading those dirty books.
The blonde boy rolled his eyes and turned to the water. Focusing their chakra into their feet, he put one foot onto the surface of the water to get the feel for it. When they felt that they had gotten the feel for it, they stepped onto the water with the other foot.
Immediately the water around his feet began to ripple and stir. The half-demon could feel how he should be focusing his chakra, but for some reason they could not focus the chakra correctly. Their chakra seemed to pulse on its own, out of their control. They water began to froth . The semi-demon focused intently, but something prevented him from controlling the chakra properly. They fell into the water.
Naruto/Kyuubi climbed quickly out of the scalding water. This slight fluctuation of their chakra was almost unnoticeable until they needed precision and control. Wouldn't we have noticed this before, when we were climbing trees?
Apparently not.
The blonde tried several more times, each time lasting a second or so longer, but every time they thought he had gotten it, their chakra's pulsing rhythm would cause the water to stir, which made the pulsing effects more noticeable, which made the water froth like it was boiling, which caused the half-demon to fall into the water yet again.
After an hour of practice, the blonde had only managed to last up to ten seconds on the water. Jiraiya walked over to the boy as the semi-demon climbed out of the water again. Although the sannin had been peeping, he had also looked back occasionally to see how the boy was doing. He was disturbed by the lack of progress.
"Hey, Naruto. Try one more time for me."
The white-haired ninja watched intently as Naruto/Kyuubi walked onto the water, stood for a few seconds, then began to tilt as the water rippled and shook, before finally falling back in.
Naruto climbed out of the small springs again, when they were startled by the sannin reaching out with his left hand and lifting their shirt up.
"Naruto, mold some chakra."
Naruto and Kyuubi spoke quickly.
Does he know?! Should we kill him?! What is he doing?!!
How could he possibly know when the Hokage hasn't figured it out? But still, the only chance of staying undiscovered is to act normal, and refusing to mold the chakra could make him suspicious.
I hope you're right.
The blonde formed a seal and molded chakra. Jiraiya watched as the seal he had expected appeared, along with anothe slightly off-center seal. Orochimaru must be slipping to hit off-center on a genin. The finger of his right hand, which was behind him, became tipped with blue flames of chakra.
Suddenly, before Naruto/Kyuubi could do anything, Jiraiya slammed his hand into their stomach, undoing Orochimaru's seal. Jiraiya was too focused on the seal to notice Naruto's left eye flicker red just before the boy fell back into the springs from the force of the blow.
However, Jiraiya did notice when the water glowed orange and began to boil.
I'll kill him!!! He knows!!! Kill him!!!
He doesn't know! Look in my mind! He undid that Orochimaru guy's seal!
What?! Why would he do that?! He would have told us if he were going to do that!
Not if we were an innocent little boy who didn't know about the demon in his stomach. Now stop letting off so much chakra or he'll find us out for sure!
The water returned to its normal hue as the blonde surfaced, gasping for air.
Jiraiya looked at the boy strangely. I didn't think that unsealing him would have such a strong effect. But it seems to have worn off quickly. He quickly changed his expression to a happy smile. "That was my patented 'Relaxation Technique!' You should be able to do better now that you're relaxed!"
Naruto/Kyuubi climbed out of the water, then turned to face the water.
Jiraiya rolled his eyes when the boy seemed to accept this. Kids are so easy to fool.
Naruto/Kyuubi rolled his eyes. Humans are so easy to fool. They walked onto the water, and stood still. The water around their feet barely vibrated from their presence. He walked across the water. The water hardly rippled at each step. He ran around on the water, did handstands on the water, flipped, jumped, and did other things that he might normally do on solid ground. Everything was easy.
So that seal was causing us to fail. How could that sannin figure out so quickly? I greatly underestimated him.
One day with him, and we already got the seal fixed. Imagine what training with him for the whole two weeks could do for us! And now you can control the whole body, so I can go back.
Actually, we seem to have better control of the body when we share it. I think we should keep things as they are. It gave us a much needed advantage against Lee, and it could be a deciding factor in another fight.
After a few more minutes of practice on the water, Naruto/Kyuubi walked up behind the white-haired ninja, who had returned to his position by the hole in the fence.
"Ero-sennin, we have completed the exercise. Do you have anything else for me to do?" The demon duo cursed themselves for referring to themselves as 'we', but Jiraiya didn't seem to notice.
"Be quieter, Naruto!" hissed the frog ninja. "And don't call me that! I'm no ordinary pervert! I am a super pervert, so don't confuse me with those ordinary guys! No, I don't have anything else for you today. I'll come up with something for tomorrow. Meet me here tomorrow morning for more."
Naruto/Kyuubi's eyes narrowed. "I think you need to teach us a technique to make it worth our while to keep your secret."
"What secret? Everyone who knows me knows that I'm a super pervert."
"But the women here don't know that you're watching them."
"You wouldn't..."
"All I have to do is raise my voice, and they'll know you're here."
"But I have research to do," Jiraiya whined, his face twisted in a frown. "Fine. I'll start teaching you to summon, but since you're so impatient, you'll have to summon frogs, since that is the only scroll I have access to."
Jiraiya walked away from the fence to a rock that sat by the water on which they had been practicing, pulled the large scroll from his back, and unrolled it to show the contract, and the list of everyone who had ever signed it. Naruto/Kyuubi followed him over.
"Naruto, you have to sign your name on here in blood to seal the contract," Jiraiya pointed to the next blank space on the contract.
Naruto/Kyuubi bit their right thumb and tried to sign their name, but the blood rolled off the contract like the paper was water repellent. Jiraiya looked confused. "What other summoning contracts have you signed, Naruto? Obviously, whoever you signed to is not on good terms with the frog summons, or vice versa."
It was Naruto/Kyuubi's turn to be confused. "I haven't signed any other contracts."
Jiraiya furrowed his brow. Naruto doesn't seem to be the type to lie, but obviously he's signed some other contract. Unless... unless the Kyuubi had affected him in some way. Maybe housing that trickster fox signed Naruto to fox summoning automatically? But I don't know the seals for fox summoning, and I don't know anyone who would. But if it was an automatic signing, maybe any summoning jutsu will summon foxes automatically, no matter whose seals he does.
"Naruto, I want you to memorize these seals." Jiraiya went slowly through several seals. Naruto/Kyuubi copied him exactly.
"Good," Jiraiya said. "Now, bite your thumb again for more blood, wipe the blood across your arm, do those seals, then put your right hand to the ground. Don't use very much chakra."
Naruto/Kyuubi looked strangely at the old man, but bit their thumb again. What? But we haven't signed the contract.
My presence, whether through the seal or through my constant contact with your body, may have signed a contract with foxes.
How would it do that?
I'm not completely sure. I don't know much about that seal the accursed Yondaime used, so I have no idea what that would do.
They wiped the blood on their arm, and formed the seals. Upon completing the last seal, they crouched and placed their right palm on the ground, putting a small bit of chakra into the technique.
Their hand was pushed up from the ground, and a bit of ninja smoke floated out from underneath. Naruto/Kyuubi moved their hand to find...
...The cutest baby fox ever. It's white fur even looked soft. It rolled from its side onto its feet, looked up at the blonde boy with its slitted orange eyes, and gave a happy little bark. It jumped onto the boy's right shoulder, barely making it, and pulled itself up with its paws.
Naruto/Kyuubi stood up and looked at Jiraiya.
The white-haired sannin smiled at the rather amusing image in front of him. The ninja, clad in all black, glared at him with an icy stare, a blank, emotionless expression fixed on his face, while the kit on his shoulder with bright white fur emanated a happy aura and looked all around itself with a wondering curiosity, occasionally yipping in excitement.
"Naruto, you seem to have a contract with foxes already. That would explain why you could not sign the frog contract." Jiraiya decided not to add that reason that Naruto could not sign the contract was because every summon family had refused to share contracts with the foxes after Kyuubi attacked Konoha.
"I suggest that you practice fighting with a summon from now on. They can be very useful in a fight. I saw the training you were doing over at that old field, and I think that you have a good routine, so I would like you to do that, but here, on the water, from now on. You'll be able to increase your stamina and control much faster that way."
Jiraiya returned to the hole in the fence, pulled out his notebook, and continued his important 'research.'
Naruto/Kyuubi walked onto the water. The kit jumped onto a nearby boulder to watch, seeming to understand what Naruto was going to do.
I wonder if that kit understood what Jiraiya said.
It would not surprise me. Foxes are very smart.
Of course you would say that.
Are you going to start? Or can we go play somewhere? I saw a butterfly in the forest, and I thought-
Naruto/Kyuubi flinched at the voice that suddenly spoke in their mind. "What was that?"
That was me, master! You didn't know we could speak like this?
Great, another voice in my head, Naruto thought, though he was glad for another friend.
I can hear that, you know!
Naruto/Kyuubi stared at the tiny fox.
I can hear you when you think out loud, like when you talk to Lord Kyuubi. Because you have our Lord sealed inside you, you are able to communicate with us telepathically. Are you going to train? Then I'm going to go home.
The tiny fox vanished in a cloud of ninja smoke.
I could always speak to them like that, so I guess you have that ability now, Naruto, although it appears only to work with summons now.
Fine. Let's get to training.
Naruto/Kyuubi summoned another, larger fox to train with. This fox came up to Naruto's waist, and had dark, purple-blue fur, and slitted orange eyes.
Need something?
We're training, and we want to train with a partner, to get used to having an ally in battle, and to learn to work together.
A wise plan, master.
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Jiraiya looked back at the Naruto every few minutes to check on his training. The boy learns quickly, and seems to have a natural talent at teamwork. I haven't heard him speak so much as a word, and he moves in complete synchronization with that summon.
Jiraiya watched the blonde run across the water, making clones that laid down on the water, allowing the dark fox the also run across the water on their backs. The fox lashed out at imaginary enemies with its sharp claws, while Naruto sent clones to attack the same foe and threw kunai from a distance.
Jiraiya could not believe that this was just a genin. The blonde moved with such precision, able to control every movement with a skill that Jiraiya usually attributed to jounin. How could Naruto have gotten so good without being recognized earlier? How could he have failed the Academy so many times and then immediately become so skilled? It's like he had a personal trainer, but I know that Kakashi didn't spend that much time with him.
Jiraiya shook his head to clear his thoughts. I need to think of something for him to do tomorrow, or he might follow through on his threat. Who am I, fearing threats from a genin? Being a pervert has its disadvantages...
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"The tournament starts in two days, Naruto. Are you sure that you want to do this?"
The blonde nodded.
"Fighting a sannin this soon before your matches might not be a good idea, even if I go easy on you."
Naruto/Kyuubi rolled their eyes. With the superior control of their body that came from their dual control, they had reflexes almost on par with a jounin, and the weights gave them speed and strength far beyond most mortals. Aside from Rock Lee and that Maito Gai.
"If you're sure, Naruto, then I guess we should get started."
Both ninjas dropped into fighting stances.
The part of the forest they had chosen to train in was far from where anyone might run into them, and far from the women's bathhouse. Naruto/Kyuubi had been willing to fight at their usual spot at the springs, but Jiraiya did not think that destroying the bathhouse was a good idea.
"Fight with everything you have, Naruto, or I'll injure so badly that you'll miss the end of the chuunin exams!"
Naruto/Kyuubi summoned the dark purple-blue fox that he had been training with recently.
Yes, master?
We are fighting that white-haired guy today. Do whatever you feel is necessary. He is incredibly good, so don't worry about injuring him too badly.
Right.
Naruto/Kyuubi made two dozen clones, who immediately rushed at Jiraiya, kunai drawn. Once they got within striking distance, however, Jiraiya became a blur of motion, obliterating the clones almost instantly.
"Don't underestimate me, Naruto!" Jiraiya shouted.
Naruto/Kyuubi looked at the fox, and nodded.
We'll go to the right, you go left.
I'm on it.
Naruto/Kyuubi ran around to his right while the fox went left, before they both converged on the white-haired sannin. The fox slashed at Jiraiya's stomach with his sharp claws while Naruto aimed a powerful punch at the sannin's face. Jiraiya dodged both attacks easily, then kicked at Naruto's face.
The blonde blocked the kick with a weighted arm, the red wooden sandal clanking against the heavy metal. Jiraiya immediately pulled back to avoid another clawed paw. Naruto/Kyuubi used a burst of speed to appear behind the Jiraiya. The sannin spun around and blocked the earth-shattering punch with an arm, grunting in pain as he took the hit. That's going to leave a mark.
Jiraiya flipped backwards, avoiding attacks from the fox and the blonde, bit his thumb, wiped the blood on his arm, and formed several seals. A large frog appeared, orange with purple blotches. Jiraiya jumped on top of the frog. "Hey, let heat things up."
The frog belched out a stream of oil, which Jiraiya immediately ignited with a basic fire jutsu.
The fox dodged too slowly, vanishing in ninja smoke when the fire struck his back legs. Sorry, master.
Naruto/Kyuubi was still recovering from the punch that Jiraiya had blocked, and the wide spray of fiery oil was too far across for him to avoid while still wearing his weights. Without the time to drop his weights and still get away, there was only one way to avoid serious burns from the fire.
This may not be a good idea, but the fire could kill us or severely injure us if we took the hit.
Kyuubi released a large burst of demonic chakra, covering their body in a red, glowing armor that deflected the burning oil. Once the oil stopped coming, Naruto/Kyuubi jumped away from the burning patch of ground onto a branch, and let the armor fade. He quickly replaced the genjutsu that had been removed by the demonic chakra.
Jiraiya looked in amazement. Kyuubi shielded him with chakra! How can the demon release his chakra so quickly, without Naruto becoming angry enough to use the chakra? And such control! The armor deflected the oil, and then dissipated when it was no longer needed! In every instance I ever heard of, a jinkuurichi that has begun using demonic chakra will continue to use it until forced to stop, but Naruto or Kyuubi used it only for a moment.
The sannin was brought out of his thoughts by a sudden attack from the blonde. Half in a daze, Jiraiya just blocked the attacks, not really aware of the pain that accompanied every block.
Naruto/Kyuubi stopped fighting when they saw that the sannin was not really paying attention. I hope he doesn't do anything rash. We needed to deflect that attack, and that was the only way.
He wasn't kidding around about injuring us too badly to finish the exams.
Jiraiya snapped out of his reverie. "Naruto, I'm sorry to cut our training short, but I just remembered something I need to do. Take tomorrow and the rest of today off to rest for the exams. Good luck in the tournament," Jiraiya finished half-heartedly.
The sannin leaped away, towards Konoha. Sarutobi needs to know about this.
Naruto/Kyuubi watched the white-haired sannin leave. Crap.
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Naruto/Kyuubi knew that they would never be able to defeat Jiraiya without using enough demonic chakra to alert all of Konoha and all the visiting villages to the fight, and they also knew that they would be too weak after fighting to defend against the ninjas who would doubtlessly come looking for him. So they did the next best thing to killing Jiraiya.
Naruto/Kyuubi listened to Jiraiya speaking to the Hokage from outside the walls of the office. Since the Hokage's office had a window, they positioned themselves just out of sight under the window to listen in.
I hope we don't have to leave Konoha. Where would we go?
We would have to train by ourselves, but wait, they're talking.
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"... and that's what happened."
Jiraiya and Kakashi stood at attention as the Hokage thought. Jiraiya had arrived only a bit after Kakashi, and both had related the incident with Naruto.
Sarutobi sighed and puffed on his pipe. How could anyone have so much control over demonic chakra? Naruto has had it since just after he was born, but he shouldn't be able to call it up at will and stop using it at will.
"Jiraiya, I have Kakashi keeping an eye on him, so if anything comes up, Kakashi will tell me. It is indeed disturbing that anyone could control demon chakra so well, but we can't be sure of what that means about Naruto yet. In the meantime, I want to hear what you've learned about Akatsuki. Kakashi, you may want to listen to this, since it concerns Naruto."
Jiraiya cleared his throat. "From what I heard, Akatsuki is planning to abduct Naruto during some sort of confusion late in the exams. They didn't say what the confusion would be, but I got the sense that they were merely taking advantage of a situation that was being planned by someone else. I'm not sure, but I think that we could be at risk for an attack from another village.
"As for Naruto, they have designated two men to capture him: Kisame, and Uchiha Itachi."
The Sandaime had a pained look on his face. Two legendary S-class missing-nin, coming to capture a genin for his demon. "Jiraiya, I want you to follow Naruto for the duration of the rest of the exams. Kakashi, you will still keep and eye on him, but I want Jiraiya to accompany Naruto as much as possible."
Sarutobi coughed. "And Kakashi, after the exams, there are some ANBU who would like your help on a murder case. You are both dismissed."
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Naruto/Kyuubi left quickly, making sure that he wouldn't be caught listening in on their conversation.
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The day arrived. The first round of the tournament would begin today. Ninjas, nobles and commoners scrambled to get seats in the stadium.
Naruto/Kyuubi walked down the aisle in the middle of the 'ninja' section, Jiraiya accompanying him. The demon duo had accepted his excuse for staying with them without complaint, even though 'cheering him on' was the sorriest excuse he had ever heard. There didn't seem to be an seats left, but just as they were about to sit down, they heard someone call their name.
"Hey, Naruto, you can sit by me!"
Yamanaka Ino waved and pointed at the space next to her on the bench, near the aisle. If Sasuke won't sit by me, I can go for the other dark, cool, angsty guy. I heard a rumor that he killed over a dozen people on his first C-class mission! It can't be true, but he must be really good to get such a reputation!
Naruto/Kyuubi sat next to the blonde-haired girl, and Jiraiya sat on the other side of Naruto.
"You got a girlfriend?" Jiraiya cooed. "And here I was, thinking you spent all your time training!"
Ino blushed slightly while Naruto/Kyuubi rolled their eyes.
"I-It's not that, I just thought he needed a seat!" Ino stammered.
"Sure you did," Jiraiya prodded. "And maybe you needed Naruto to sit by you, hmm? Just couldn't resist his rugged good looks? His bright blonde hair? His dark, angsty attitude? His beautiful blue eyes?"
The half-demon shivered at being called beautiful by another guy.
Ino turned a brighter shade of red. "It wasn't that!"
"So you don't deny that you find him attractive?"
Why did we have to sit between these two?
Because there weren't any other seats left.
Oh, yeah.
"Just because he's attractive doesn't mean that-"
Ino put a hand over her mouth as she realized what she had said. Jiraiya laughed loudly, thumping the blonde boy on the back. "You're a lucky man, Naruto!"
Ino fumed at the white-haired man's behavior. "Just who do you think you are?!"
Jiraiya stood up and put on his theatrical attitude. "I am the great frog-nin, the awe-inspiring sannin, the legendary-"
"Pervert." Jiraiya glared at the blonde boy.
"The legendary Jiraiya, you numbskull!"
"You are a pervert, though."
Ino fumed. A pervert was teasing her about boys. "You sick man! How dare you say those things when you are a closet pervert!"
Naruto/Kyuubi saw their chance to get a little breathing room from Jiraiya. "He's not a closet pervert, he's a self-designated super-pervert." Ignoring Jiraiya's pleading look, the dark ninja continued. "He trains me over by the women's bathhouse so that he can peep while I practice."
Ino looked about ready to explode.
"Did I mention he takes notes on what he sees so he can write dirty books?"
"PERVERT!!!" Jiraiya bolted, Ino hot on his heels.
Naruto/Kyuubi sprawled out on the now-open space on the bench. That was too easy.
Most mortals are like that. You just have to find the right leverage.
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End of chapter. Longer chapter mandatory reviewing! You think I don't know when you read this and leave without reviewing?! Think again!!! All who read without reviewing will be hunted down ans slaughtered! Seriously, though, review. Nargles will be distributed to reviewers. If I get at least as many reviews as I did on the first longer chapter I posted, (74 reviews), I will define nargles. So leave a nice review, or at least a tribute.